This is work related, not creative writing related, but I think there’s a good chance someone on this forum has a lead. I’m looking for some software that can compile multiple word docs or PDFs together into one in a way that is very easy. Let me explain a bit further. My company has about 70 business units and 900 customers. We want to disseminate procedures for the different business units and customers, print it out, but have it in one convenient reference for our techs. so business unit A may need reference material for customers 1-10 and the state of Ohio; business unit B has customers 2-7 and 15-18 in the state of Michigan. If I had one document for each business unit, if something changes, for example customer #2, I don’t want to open every single file that has customer #2 referenced and make the changes multiple. I want to open the customer #2 reference, make the change once, and hit compile, and all the files that are affect by the change get recompiled. So the idea would be to have a bunch of individual files for reference materials, a smaller number of output files with various combinations of those, and a compiler that knows the relationship and order and can recompile on a ad hoc basis. any ideas?
Yeah, I think I could write something to manage this with C# and SQL Server, but it'd take me forever to hack it together...
Sounds like relational database territory to me too. You could probably use some kind of CRM (customer relationship management) software, but possibly a sledgehammer solution to what sounds largely like document management.
Pandoc? It supports docx for both input and output, and it will output to pdf. I use a Mac for creative writing and daily stuff. Apple Preview (sort of like Adobe Reader, bundled with MacOS) will merge PDF's, let you sort the pages, add watermarks, all kinds of stuff beyond just viewing them. I used Mellel to create a couple of Word documents (I don't have Word), which I stored in a Devonthink database. Devonthink's merge function concatenated them, which I confirmed by importing them into Nisus Writer Pro. Merging PDF's shouldn't present any challenges. Merging docx files may require fine tuning because you have to merge styles as well as content. A style is a global thing. It doesn't get modified at a point in the document. If you're on the last page of your document and update a style, the update will apply to the style throughout the document. Likewise, a given style will apply to the entirety of your merge. Edited to add: for the compile, you might use a spreadsheet to maintain a matrix of document-vs-components. Easy Data Transform is a fun tool that I believe could be used to write a series of pandoc commands for selected document consumers. I got it to mine tax rolls for tax assessor malfeasance (found it, too). Lately, I've gotten accolades at work for the spreadsheet extracts and joins I've provided. Heh, heh, heh - they see my output, they know how messy the input was, and think I spent hours. Truthfully, it's just a simple flowchart thing.
For the word docs, could you do something in VBA using an Access Database with the relevant information? Create some form for someone to fill out and select the unit, customers, etc.?
Storing the information on an SQL server and writing an application in C# to compile it based on your needs is probably the most elegant solution. The dirty solution, which is what I'd probably end up doing, would be to jam all of the data into an excel file, then use VBA to open word and paste the required information before saving it as a PDF.
